


solace

by Feroxai



Series: slingshot 'verse [3]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Established Relationship, Fluff, Introspection, M/M, Post-Blue Lions Route (Fire Emblem: Three Houses), companion to silk, no beta we die like Glenn, post-slingshot, they can't know we yearned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-06
Updated: 2020-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:01:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23038252
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Feroxai/pseuds/Feroxai
Summary: Felix loves nothing more than sitting by the fire in the arms of his foolish, lovable husband.Sylvain Week | Day 6 | Warmth
Relationships: Felix Hugo Fraldarius/Sylvain Jose Gautier
Series: slingshot 'verse [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1642336
Comments: 4
Kudos: 125
Collections: Sylvain Week 2020!, Sylvix Squad Super Stories





	solace

Felix loves nothing more than sitting by the fire in the parlour room in the arms of his foolish, lovable husband. They whittled away their winter nights like this, listening to the chatter of their children and students. 

Maybe it was the softness of his old age, but there was something innately satisfying about being enveloped by Sylvain’s considerable embrace. His broad, warm hands rest on Felix’s hips; his fingers tap out a rhythm which matches his tuneless humming. The scent of him was homely and real, and the furnace of his body was welcome in the cold of winter.

It reminds Felix of nights where he’d fallen asleep like this, in their bed at Gautier, in the moth-eaten sheets at the monastery and in water-bogged tents camped out on the edge of the nefarious Duchy.

Here, drowsy, he remains unperturbed to his squires and children’s attempts to tease them. Where he once was self-conscious about affection and touch, he’d grown to appreciate it. There was nothing wrong with letting others know what love could look like. He looks at them lazily like a weary grizzly bear, full of honey and sunshine. He’ll punish them for their impertinence during morning training.

As if sensing his irritated thoughts, Sylvain stops tapping on his hip and instead shifts so that Felix could lay down further on him. Felix did so, resting his cheek on his husband’s shoulder. Felix loves that about him. Sylvain is the river bank; slowly changing, morphing and improving, and Felix is the water that flowed through him, dynamic, uncertain and steady. They influence each other in a way that was natural and seamless. Sylvain nudges him when he is stubborn, and Felix reminds him to take off his mask and breathe. Felix knows he can always trust Sylvain to be there, warm at his back and constant in his heart.

The flickering of the hearth at night, fierce and gentle like stalwart tongues, is a constant of Faerghus family life. Felix can barely remember sitting by the hearth of Fraldarius Castle with his mother, father and brother, but he still dreams about it, like barely-formed smoke at the edge where he sleeps. He dreams about the face of a woman he cannot remember, the jovial voice of a brother he cannot hear, and the comforting touch of a father long-gone.

Growing up, Felix never let himself feel loneliness; the hungry, desolate opening in his heart was never allowed to surface. He was stronger without the burden of his friends and was greater than his father’s expectations. Still, that opening grew larger and larger with every night that passed and every hand he pushed away.

He would find himself looking towards the warmth of Sylvain’s laughter and the weight on his hands on his shoulders. He remembers being confused about the indescribable _yearning_ he felt as he stole glances of Sylvain talking, joking and flirting. He remembers the disappointment he felt whenever they fought, whenever Sylvain decided he didn't want to look at Felix anymore.

He hated it. He wasn’t allowed to _want._ He wasn’t allowed to covet Sylvain’s sunshine smiles. He wasn't allowed to pursue the embers at Sylvain’s fingertips that _burned_ against his skin. 

But time changed him. His starvation could not be sustained. Slowly, but surely, he became accustomed to chasing the spectre of Sylvain's touch. He accepted that he craved him; he craved him whole, safe, and strong, here, in a place where he could keep him.

Sylvain became a steady part of his life; the hearth of his home. A source of joy and sunlight in the cold, dark times of war and in the frustrating stretches of bureaucratic nonsense afterwards. 

He had never dreamed of marrying nor starting a family, but Sylvain had freely given that to him. He'd given himself, his fire, his tenacity and his compassion. Together, they built a home in a castle, with their calloused hands and bleeding hearts. 

Together, they raised two children, the strongest and bravest of faces, and frailest of glass hearts. It kills him to think of their vulnerability and their trauma. It heartens him to see their growth and happiness.

Felix is not sure he can continue without his husband at his side. He remembers wanting to throttle his various squires whenever they tested him, and the skilled way Sylvain would mediate and talk them down; he would wear down Felix's anger, and confront and cajole the squires, encouraging them to communicate their misgivings. He would remind Felix that his squires were their children too, no matter how unruly and terrible they were. 

There was a part of Sylvain that made him feel solid and real and safe. Felix did not know how to name it. But there _are_ things Felix can name; the freckles on his sun-kissed skin, the burn of his beard on Felix's neck and the quicksilver-glimmer in his eyes. 

He loves Sylvain’s sharp intelligence and his constant patience. He loves this cozy scene before him, and the comforting embrace at his back. He loves the warmth of his children and the capriciousness of his students. 

It is not what he would have dreamed of, nor what he had planned, but this was the place he found solace, and it was here he knew Sylvain has found his own. 

**Author's Note:**

> set a few years after slingshot, where sylvain and felix has adopted another tyke to raise alongside caspian
> 
> Talk to me on twitter at [Feroxai_](https://twitter.com/Feroxai_)


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